Reps to govt: stop sale of PHCN assets

The House of Representatives has urged the Federal government to stop further sale of some assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

The lawmakers said the sale of PHCN’s overtime cargoes was fraudulent with opportunities denied qualified bidders that have no personal relationships with those in charge of the exercise.

Consequently, the Committees on Power and Public Procurement have been mandated to investigate the alleged fraudulent sale of the assets.

The decision of the House followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance by Rita Oji (PDP, Lagos), who recalled that auctioning of PHCN overtime cargoes, scraps and obsolete items by the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO) valued at over N20billion was recently carried out and over N1.5billion was claimed to have been realised from the sale.

According to her, there were widespread claims of irregularities and improper advertisement on national dailies including the Traders Journal.

She said: “Allegations of posting fraudulent and misleading ads for the sale of high-value items on selected dailies from anticipated buyers were prominent

“People who heard about the auction and showed interest were purportedly disallowed or given the opportunity to buy the assets after fulfilling all necessary requirements for the purchase.

“It is worrisome that the bidding process was allegedly neither transparent nor forthright, allegations of fraudulent activities trailed the sales and the outcome of the activities ended in dispute.

“If the outcry by the public against the seemingly spurious sales and auctions is left unattended to, it will set a bad precedence for any such transactions in the future.

“The outcry is vociferous, the allegation are weighty and a comprehensive and detailed scrutiny would enable both the alleged offended and offender to be treated judiciously”.

The motion was unanimously adopted after it was put to a voice vote by the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun.

The joint Committee was given a month to carry out its workman’s report back for further legislative action was also asked to monitor further sales of remaining overtime cargoes.